Moonbirds In-Depth Analysis: From NFT Top Trend to BIRB Ecosystem, How Is the Project's Value Being Reconstructed?

Project Origin: The Birth of Community-Centric Blue-Chip NFTs

The story of Moonbirds begins with a private community called PROOF. PROOF Collective, a closed club with only 1,000 NFT memberships, is the foundation of everything. The soul of this club is Kevin Rose, who is not only the host of the well-known Proof Podcast but also a serial entrepreneur and investor with deep influence in both Web2 and Web3 spaces.

In April 2022, at the peak of NFT market frenzy, Moonbirds, the second NFT series launched by PROOF, suddenly emerged.

Centered around 10,000 intricately designed, uniquely featured pixel art owl avatars, it quickly captured market attention. From the start, the project adopted an elite community approach: 2,000 NFTs were airdropped directly to PROOF Collective members to ensure core community loyalty and initial enthusiasm.

The market response was explosive. Within 24 hours of release, trading volume exceeded $100 million, and it soon set a record with a single NFT selling for $457,000, quickly topping the OpenSea rankings. Unlike many NFT projects at the time, Moonbirds introduced an innovative mechanism called “Nesting.”

Holders could “lock” or “nest” their NFTs on-chain to earn additional rewards and visual upgrades. This clever design encouraged long-term holding rather than short-term trading, greatly enhancing community cohesion.

Background of Transformation: The Inevitable Path of Bear Market Challenges and Strategic Reshaping

However, the glorious start could not withstand the cold winter of crypto. As the market cooled overall, Moonbirds’ floor price slid from its peak. Besides market cycles, the project faced internal challenges.

Community concerns over roadmap execution, changes in copyright models (shifting to CC0 protocol without community approval), and other communication issues eroded trust. Like many star NFT projects of that era, Moonbirds seemed to fall into the “peak at launch” dilemma.

The real turning point occurred in May 2025. Moonbirds’ parent company, PROOF, was acquired by Orange Cap Games (OCG). This acquisition brought a fundamental strategic shift: Moonbirds transitioned from a “managed IP” to a “actively operated product.”

OCG outlined a clear and ambitious new path: drawing on the success of Pudgy Penguins, shifting toward physical consumer goods and a hybrid business model.

Structural Analysis: How BIRB Token Became the Engine of the New Ecosystem

The core of this transformation is the launch of the BIRB token. On January 28, 2026, BIRB completed its Token Generation Event (TGE) on the Solana blockchain. Unlike native NFTs on Ethereum, BIRB chose Solana to leverage its high efficiency and low fees, supporting broader user participation and trading activity.

BIRB is positioned as the “governance and utility token” for the entire Moonbirds and Birb IP expansion ecosystem. Its main goal is to connect digital ownership with real-world consumption.

According to the official economic model, BIRB has a total supply of 1 billion tokens, with a distribution reflecting a strong community focus and long-term development.

BIRB Tokenomics Overview

Ecosystem Blueprint: “Billion Birds Plan” and Physical Integration Strategy

The release of BIRB tokens is not an isolated event; it is a pillar of a broader strategic initiative called “Birbillions Thesis” (Billion Birds Plan). The core idea of this strategy is: sustainable crypto assets must possess both “memeability” and “enterprise capability.”

In simple terms, it involves using viral meme culture for rapid dissemination and attention, then converting that attention into lasting economic activity through profitable physical businesses, ultimately creating a self-reinforcing growth flywheel.

This strategy already has a solid foundation. In its second year of operation, OCG generated approximately $8 million in revenue from selling physical collectibles. Its key driver is Vibes, a trading card game that sold over 8.6 million physical cards in the past year.

These cards are sold through over 100 retail channels including GTS and Asmodee (the second-largest toy distributor globally), successfully reaching traditional toy and card game consumers. In the future, Moonbirds characters will be integrated into the third version of Vibes TCG.

Market Trajectory: Evolution of Value Support from Historical Price Fluctuations

Understanding the value of Moonbirds and BIRB requires a review of their market trajectories.

NFT Phase (2022-2025): The initial mint price of Moonbirds NFTs was 2.5 ETH. At the peak of the bull market, the floor price once exceeded 40 ETH, with rare individual pieces selling for millions of dollars. However, as the market cooled, the floor price fell back to around 2 ETH. The total trading volume exceeding $1 billion confirms its former blue-chip status.

Token Launch Phase (January 2026 to Present): Since BIRB’s launch on January 28, 2026, it has experienced typical market volatility. According to CoinGecko data, its price initially dipped to about $0.1771, then quickly surged to a high of $0.4769 on February 3, before retracing. As of February 5, 2026, the price was around $0.233, with a fully diluted valuation of approximately $234 million.

Key Early Price Milestones for BIRB

Pricing Logic Shift: The fundamental basis supporting Moonbirds’ value is undergoing a major transition. Previously, its value was almost entirely dependent on NFT secondary market scarcity narratives and speculation. The new pricing logic of the BIRB ecosystem aims to be more closely tied to actual commercial revenue, physical product sales, and user growth within the ecosystem.

Its white paper even references global trend toy company Pop Mart as a benchmark, aiming to create a crypto-native brand that relies not on financial speculation but on consumer product-driven growth.

Future Outlook

The path of transformation will never be smooth. The initial price fluctuations of BIRB clearly reflect the market’s oscillation and trade-offs between “short-term speculative narratives” and “long-term real-world business value.”

When a pixel owl worth $45,000 begins to think about entering global store shelves like Pop Mart’s toys, the boundary between the crypto world and mainstream consumer markets is quietly being pried open by a little bird called Birb.